Labour’s ‘rising star’ MP Yuan Yang has apologised after eagle-eyed punters spotted that she pretended to eat at a constituency restaurant that was in fact shut. She’s an ex-FT journalist so maybe making stuff up comes naturally…
The Earley and Woodley MP posted on all her platforms last week: “Today is National Fish and Chip Day! To celebrate my team and I enjoyed a lovely take-away from Top Table Fish and Chips on the Wokingham Road.” She also encouraged people to eat locally. The only problem? Top Table had been shuttered days before…
The posts have all been deleted now. Yang, who is also a member of the Commons Treasury Select Committee, has issued a “clarificatory” statement: “Unfortunately, I knew my schedule was too busy to visit the shop on the day itself, so I decided to pop in with my team on the previous Friday to make sure we could send out a message of support in time for National Fish and Chip day.” She violated National Fish and Chip Day and her constituents aren’t mushy pleased…
A new centre-left think tank has sprung from the ground. The ‘Centre for British Progress’ is absorbing the ‘UK Day One’ think tank which presented policy ideas to Labour before the election. Former Labour PPC and onetime Lammy staffer David Lawrence is running the group alongside Day One founder Julia Garayo Willemyns. Labour MPs Chris Curtis and Yuan Yang are also in support. YIMBY wonk John Myers is chairing the board…
The think tank has connections to Starmerite Labour Together. It launches with an essay attacking blockers in society: “British institutions have become quietly addicted to caution. This is not a partisan impulse, but a deeper reflex embedded in our public life, our boardrooms, our research institutions, and even our collective imagination.” It is to focus its research on infrastructure, energy, and technology…
Those aware of the policies that stimulate growth will raise an eyebrow at the think tank’s paean to Beveridge’s “war not on fascism or a foreign power, but on the “Five Giant Evils” of poverty, disease, ignorance, squalor and unemployment.” It also attacks people who believe in “dismantling programmes, indiscriminately deregulating, or tearing down institutional guardrails.” Light on their own proposals so far…
Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked John Healey: “Just finally, I mean Andy Burnham has been very clear he wants Britain back in the European Union in his lifetime. Do you?”
The Chancellor replied: “I’m older than Andy Burnham. I don’t expect to see that.”